CDM terms for M1

Flash cards with terms for CDM Midterm 1

Camera Movement

How the camera shifts in physical placement or position to capture the subject or action

Pan

when a stationary camera pivots on its axis from side to side

Tilt

When the camera follows along by moving towards, away or alongside the person or object

Cinematography

• F (Frame)

  • How the camera structures our view of  a person or an object by emphasizing or restricting certain details 

• A (Angle)

  • How the camera's placement at a particular height shapes our view

• M (Movement)

  • How the camera shifts in physical placement or position to capture the subject or action

• E (Extended or shallow depth) 

  • The camera focus on the foreground/backround elements in a shot

Mise-en-scene

• S, Setting 

  • Where characters are and how the location(s) is/are designed 

• P, Props

  • How objects are utilized in a film's storytelling to advance the plot or to tell us something about the characters 

• A, Arrangement of items 

  • How the characters and objects are placed within the frame

• C, Costuming (clothes, hair, makeup)

  • How the characters are adorned via hair, clothes and makeup 

• E, Emphasis on lighting 

  • How three-point lighting is used (or modified) to mediate our view

Ideology

Arbitrary conventions that govern conduct and largely go unquestioned because they present themselves as “natural”, “normal” and “the way things are”

Hegemony/Hegemonic Order:

Inequality or unfairness presented as the normal, social arrangements (and worth defending)

Imperfect Cinema

• Critiques the “perfect cinema” of European modernism 

• Advocates for a "committed" cinema that seeks liberation rather than a specific aesthetic form

Neocolonialism

the use of economic, political, cultural, or other indirect pressures by developed nations or transnational corporations to control or influence developing nations, instead of direct military or colonial rule

Key light

The strongest light source; placed above and to the side of protagonists, often cast shadows

Fill light

• typically a weaker source the fill is placed opposite ot the key to fill in the shadows

Back light

Placed to light behind the subject

High-key lighting

A variety of light sources that ensure that everything is the frame is well lit

Low-key lighting

• Creates dynamic contrast and sharp dark shadows, with the fill typically eliminated. It is difficult to see the carters and their surroundings

Italian Neorealism

Images in Italy after WW1, in direct contrast to Hollywood's classic cinema. Uses non-professional actors, shooting on location, minimal editing, use of natural lighting, long takes and limited use of close ups

Master shot

Used to locate character dialogue/action in location

180-degree rule

• Having 4 cameras (1,2,3 and X) surrounding the actors ¾ of them

• axis of action, spatial continuity across sets/shots

Establishing Shot

• Locate viewers in a specific space

• Can be real, fictional, historical

• reveals setting and establishes a center lines

Montage: French word for assembly

Broadly a montage sequence refers to the method or governing logic for how shots are arranged in a scene/sequence

Parallel editing

When two things are happening at the same time and are shown to be happening at the same time

Eye-line match

Used to orient viewers in space

Reverse shot

• one character is shown looking off screen to another (often off screen) followed by a cut of the other character looking back at them

Continuity editing

• unites cuts amidst onscreen movement, termed matching on action 

  • Used to show/unite different camera distances/angles within the same scene 

  • Also used to connect a character across time 

Match cuts

• Connect disparate time and space

• Pull viewers from one scene to the next while echoing thematic concerns Wipe

(Transition) Wipe Shot

• Shot A peels off to reveal shot B 

  • Used to move locations (can be vertical/horizontial) 

  • Move time forward slightly (slightly)

(Transition) Dissolve

• Signals a jump in time and/or space 

• Shot A overlaps with shot B 

• Sometimes referred to as cross-dissolve

(Transition) Fade in/ Fade out

• Most often it signals a shift in time 

• Typically fade to black, but not always

  •  sometimes red or white 

Iris (Shot)

Eye shaped mask over the lense

Iris in/out

• Closes in or opens out form a masked circle to reveal a detail

•  can also function to fade in/out

Dynamism Montage

• fast paced shots juxtaposed with slower, longer takes to show slash of ideas through the production of visual conflict 

Discontinuous ending

• juxtaposition of shots seems more fragmented (i.e. image relations are symbolic)rather than action oriented or visually patterned 

Hollywood montage

• Small or large jumps in time and pace are highlighted in the montage 

•  In the classical hollywood style montage signifies the rapid progression in time. Common examples include training sequences,and the assembling of teams 

• Continuity is regularly maintained by using to connect with time

• In contemporary mainstream Hollywood films, montage sequences are often used to accelerate time

Wide angle (Shot)

when used on a limited depth-of-field, causes a fish-eye effect that exaggerates characters and distorts audience perspective

Canted (dutch) angle (Shot)

Often used to highlight psychological distress or disorient viewers from the story content

Metric montage

Montage effects are built purely out of the length of cuts 

Rhythmic Montage

The rhythm within the frame and the meter between the shots is varied 

Tonal montage

The content combines with the form to create a dominant emotional tone in a montage pattern

Associational montage (overtonal)

Combining the three earlier forms in associational montage an idea/realization starts to emerge from amongst the cuts, image composition, mete, tone and rhythmic variance

Intellectual montage

The shots are constructed to provoke a theoretical or abstract meaning in the mind of the audience

Diegetic sound

Sound intended to be emanate from within the diegesis or story world of the narrative

Non-Diegetic Sound

• Sound emanates from the film text, but is not part of the diegesis